Rising domestic abuse in the Royal Borough
A council report says that 1,472 domestic abuse crimes were reported to the police from April last year to March 2025.
The Royal Borough has seen an increase in the number of repeat domestic abuse cases involving the same victim and perpetrator within the past year, a panel has heard.
A council report says that 1,472 domestic abuse crimes were reported to the police from April last year to March 2025. Of these 43.2 per cent were repeat cases compared to 41.4 per cent the previous year.
The report showed a ‘consistent decline’ in the number of high-risk domestic abuse cases.
RBWM panel members delved into this report at a health and wellbeing board meeting on Tuesday, October 7.
Sophie Wing-King, RBWM’s domestic abuse strategic lead, said the council is ‘still responding’ to the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act, which came into force in 2021.
The Act aims to better protect victims and survivors of domestic abuse. For the first time, the Act gives a legal definition of ‘domestic abuse’ and ‘abusive behaviour’.
This includes threatening, controlling or coercive behaviour, as well as psychological, emotional and economic abuse.
The Act also explicitly recognises that children can be victims of domestic abuse in their own right if they see, hear, or experience the effects of it.
Ms Wing-King said: “The impacts of domestic abuse are huge on people’s mental health, as are issues with substance misuse, education, employment and safeguarding.”
RBWM has now developed a specialist psychological service for adults impacted by domestic abuse, called Building Resilience and Valuing Emotions (BRAVE).
The chair of the committee, Cllr Catherine del Campo (Lib Dem, Furze Platt), cabinet member for adult services and health, stressed the importance of councillors receiving training surrounding domestic abuse.
She said: “Sometimes people are afraid to ask questions for fear of asking the wrong thing or provoking more abuse.
“Knowing what to do and how to handle it correctly is really important.”
Asma Aziz, from WAM (Windsor Ascot Maidenhead) Get Involved, which is part of the borough’s voluntary and community sector, agreed.
She said that sometimes domestic abuse is ‘brushed under the carpet’ – and that it is key to make sure training is accessible for local organisations that work with the council and the police.
Ms Wing-King reassured councillors that if people identify a need for more training and there is a capacity within the council to offer it, this will be made available.
The report further showed that the number of people in need of signposting towards extra support has reached a ‘four-year high’ in 2024/25 according to figures from the Domestic Abuse Stops Here (DASH) charity.
In 2024/25, 602 people needed signposting compared to 531 in 2021/22.
“Suicide prevention and domestic abuse is an area that we’ve been working quite strongly on this last year,” Ms Wing-King said.
For people needing to access help, self-referrals have remained the most common form of referral.
Victims reach out to Thames Valley Police, GPs and hospitals and other organisations.
The Royal Borough also has a service offering support to children affected by domestic abuse, Achieving for Children.
Over the year, 88 cases were referred to this service.